When he addressed the Sunday political meeting, the prime minister must have had the 8 March International Women’s Day celebrations in mind for he spoke mostly about the lack of gender parity which is the worst in Europe.

Much of what he said is right, as are the solutions he prospected.

Eurostat’s data shows that in Malta in 2017 there was a 24.1% gap between genders – the highest in Europe.  Malta was followed in the ranking by Italy (19.8%) and Greece (19.7%), while the EU average gap is listed as being that of 11.5%.

At the other end of the spectrum, Baltic and Scandinavian countries take the top honours with the five countries having the smallest gap hailing from these regions. Lithuania performs best with a gap of just 1%, followed by Finland (3.5%), Sweden (4%), Latvia (4.3%), and Denmark (6.5%).

The 24.1% gap represents the lowest figure that Malta’s gender employment gap has been since records started being taken in 2001.  This gap has steadily decreased from a peak of 48.8% in 2001.

But the real problem is something else.

It has been reported these past days that the increase in Malta’s minimum wage this year was the lowest when compared to those of all other European countries, a review by a European Union agency has established.

According to the fresh findings, while the majority of the EU countries increased their minimum wage rates between this year and last year, the rate of increase varied significantly between different member states.

According to Eurofound, the hourly rate of Malta’s minimum wage went up from €4.25 last year, to €4.33 in 2019 – just seven cents.

While Malta’s minimum wage was classified as “medium level”, alongside that of Portugal, Spain, Greece and Slovenia, the agency noted that the island’s increase was notably lower than the rest of these countries.

“Percentage increases were lowest in Malta (+1.9 per cent), followed by Portugal (+3.5 per cent) and Slovenia (+5.2% per cent),” the agency pointed out, adding that both Spain and Greece had “exceptionally high changes” this year.

In Spain, the minimum wage increased by 22 per cent while in Greece it went up by 11 per cent.

Official EU data issued last month showed that the average minimum wage across the EU was €924 – a far cry from the €762 earned by minimum wage earners in Malta.

Bulgaria has the lowest gross minimum wage across the EU, at just €286, while Eastern European member states had minimum wages of between €400 and €600 a month.

So we get deluged with boasts and propaganda that this is L-Aqwa zmien while at the same time, under a Socialist government, those at the very bottom of the scale get the most miserly increase in the whole of Europe.

We all know why this happens: it is by keeping the minimum wage law and its increases at the lowest level possible that the government hopes to keep attracting foreign direct investment to Malta.

If the sated Maltese, with cushy government jobs and the like, do not want to take up job opportunities, there are always the foreigners who can be counted upon to take up the jobs the Maltese shun, like cleaning the streets, waiting in restaurants and jobs in the construction sector. The wages they get may still be better than the wages they would get in their home country, if they get a job at all.

So it is right and fitting if the people on pensions get another raise in next year’s Budget, for reaching the pensionable age plunges a person who has been working straight into poverty.

But along them, due consideration should be also given to those on the minimum wage for they too are about the poverty line.

And only when we do that should we consider how to improve the gender gap.